Comment by Lee_Turpin on Typicality and Asymmetrical Similarity · 2008-02-07T17:48:50.000Z · LW · GW

I hate to say this, but technically 98 is closer to 100 than 100 is to 98. The difference between 98 and 100 is (100-98)/100 or 2%. The difference between 100 and 98 is (98-100)/98 or 2.04%. True, the difference between is only 2, but the percentage differences are, um, different. With this idea in mind, is this a type of bias that can carry over to other comparisons? (e.g. Mexico could theoretically be closer to the US (politics, standard of living, etc.) than the US is to Mexico (currency, language, etc.)) Or have I missed something important here?